Skip to content

Barnett Weekly

Essays by Larry Barnett

  • About Larry Barnett
  • Being Green – A Novel
  • Culture
  • History
  • Land Use
  • Metaphysics
  • Philosophy
  • Environment
  • Recollections
  • Archive
  • Subscribe
  • Search  

Freedom, first and last

At the subatomic, quantum level upon which all physical matter appears to be built is freedom, probabilistic indeterminacy that manifests to us as choice or even purposefulness. Although ultimately subject to the physical laws of the universe, only a fraction of which we fully understand, as far … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Metaphysics Leave a comment December 25, 2023December 25, 2023 2 Minutes

Sonoma Noir

I’m up at 3am. Can’t sleep. Again. My empty stomach gave me kick in the ribs, that apple I had for dinner having done its work and retired. A thick fog has settled over Sonoma like a wet blanket, dulling the noises of the night. Even the garbage trucks, roaring and whining like wounded animals, sound quieter… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Recollections Leave a comment December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 1 Minute

Systems of self-propagation

Does the universe self-organize into self-propagating systems? Are systems created by human beings self-propagating? The answers to these two questions might explain why things are as they are, and how they will continue to be.

First, let’s settle on some definitions, beginning with what a system… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Philosophy 1 Comment December 18, 2023December 18, 2023 2 Minutes

Woe is democracy

There’s a lot of talk nowadays about democracy. The threat of authoritarian government is rising, even in the good ole’ U.S. of A. Much can be said in favor of democracy, but it’s not perfect. While all people may have been created equal, in capabilities they clearly are not. It’s equality under the law… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 1 Comment December 11, 2023December 11, 2023 3 Minutes

A bias towards becoming

It’s impossible to imagine a time before time, but apparently it existed. Accordingly, we could call the beginning of time more revolution than evolution, given what’s followed. What’s followed is a universe of something instead of nothing, and it doesn’t get more revolutionary than that. Plainly,… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment December 4, 2023December 4, 2023 2 Minutes

Rushing towards oblivion

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the endless problems of the world; things always seem to be in turmoil. War, hunger, bigotry, Fascism, economic collapse, political extremism, lethal pandemics, over-population, artificial intelligence; the list goes on and on. Most of the world’s problems are far … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Philosophy 1 Comment November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 2 Minutes

Rise of the machines

Of the elements of the Industrial Revolution (1760-1830), the development of interchangeable parts was among its most significant. Not simply the efficiency of building machines was affected; workers were reduced to interchangeable parts, too, which greatly enabled the growth of capitalism.… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 3 Comments November 20, 2023November 20, 2023 2 Minutes

The authoritarian magic helper

“Escape From Freedom” is a 1941 book by the psychiatrist Erich Fromm. If I’d read it twenty years ago, I’d have found it an interesting account of authoritarianism and the rise of Fascism in Germany. Having read it recently, I found it pertinent and alarming.

Fromm’s psychological analysis includes… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 2 Comments November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 2 Minutes

What is the forbidden fruit?

As the Bible tells it, humanity’s original sin was eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, thus generating awareness of good and evil. Essentially, this story is about the emergence of self-conscious free will and how it represents a separation from God. Accordingly, the story goes, God… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment November 6, 2023November 9, 2023 2 Minutes

When worlds collide

We generally divide reality into two orders: natural and human. Natural order is the reality which is beyond human origination and control: the patterns of the flow of seasons, dawn and sunset, tides, gravity, the myriad forms of plant and animal life that populate the earth, the arrangement of atoms,… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Philosophy Leave a comment October 30, 2023October 30, 2023 2 Minutes

Our terrible love of war

Why are we so war-like, or more honestly, why are men so war-like? War-like behavior among wild chimpanzees is a documented fact. Naturalist Jane Goodall observed that when a group of chimpanzees breaks off from a larger troop, the two alpha-male groups get into conflict. Males, and some females, make… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 4 Comments October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 2 Minutes

How we rule

Having moved from the unconscious existence of pre-human animal life governed by biological drives and hereditary instinct, we find ourselves faced with power and the freedom of choice in how we rule our lives, both individually and collectively. Ruling ourselves is an inescapable human predicament… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics Leave a comment October 16, 2023October 14, 2023 2 Minutes

On hating haters

I find the behavior of Matt Gaetz, Marjory Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Kevin McCarthy reprehensible; I hate it. These four MAGATS and many other so-called republicans are pursuing policies and positions that damage our democracy; the only reason I can see for how they behave is their love of power… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Philosophy, Politics Leave a comment October 9, 2023October 9, 2023 2 Minutes

A crime boss of botany?

Amateur botanist Joey Santore talks like a thug; think Tony Soprano going on about the leaf structure of Eupratorium serotinum. A Chicago native, Joey’s internet identity falls under the aegis of “Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t,” through which he posts videos of plants and his commentary. Affecting… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Environment 1 Comment October 2, 2023October 2, 2023 2 Minutes

Can humanity be reduced to an algorithm?

Each of us is different and in other ways we are all the same. Sameness and difference are two sides of a coin; you can’t have one without the other. In our case, sameness and difference are the products of one billion years or more of ever-increasing animal complexity. At the present time, that complexity… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment September 25, 2023October 2, 2023 2 Minutes

Taking care of business

While walking down a busy street the other day I felt reminded of leaf cutter ants. Leaf cutters leave their jungle nest each day and embark upon harvesting; climbing into the branches of shrubs and trees they systematically chop leaves apart and carry the bits and pieces back home. There the cut-up pieces… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment September 18, 2023September 18, 2023 2 Minutes

Should public hate speech be illegal?

Our American culture famously celebrates freedom of expression. Freedom of speech is invoked as a catch-all justification for the most hateful of sentiments; the ACLU, defender of the First Amendment, has gone to court to protect the right of Nazi’s to march publicly while displaying swastikas and… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Uncategorized Leave a comment September 11, 2023September 11, 2023 2 Minutes

The MAGA-Anarchist Revolution

Those who refer to MAGA Republicans are mistaken. MAGA is not Republican. MAGA is right-wing anarchy. Historically, anarchists have been associated with the political left-wing; indeed, there are avowed left-wing anarchists. However, the left- and right-wing meet at their extremes, and both … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 2 Comments September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 3 Minutes

The opposite of woke

The word “woke” is getting lots of airtime these days. The GOP uses it derisively as an insult, indicating that woke is synonymous with leftist attitudes and beliefs about family, religion, patriotism, gender, and politics. In other words, that woke means liberal, and liberal means celebrating difference,… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Uncategorized 1 Comment August 28, 2023August 28, 2023 2 Minutes

Dharma Barbie

While headed to our town’s historic one-screen movie house the Sebastiani Theatre to see Barbie, in walking meditation I purposefully inhabited the mystery of multiple selves: my biological self whose feet touch the ground, my imaginary self as an idea, and my quantum self as a waveform traveling … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Metaphysics 4 Comments August 21, 2023August 21, 2023 2 Minutes

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts
Back to top ↑
© 2006-2025 Larry Barnett